Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a hot spot for international education at the moment, getting quite a lot of attention – in some cases even nervous attention – from a variety of stakeholders. Where did they come from and what exactly is all the fuss about? This is an extract from the 2013 spring issue of European Association for International Education's member magazine, EAIE Forum http://ow.ly/VQo2h. Become an EAIE member to access top-notch resources on a wide range of internationalisation topics. http://ow.ly/VQmqO.

1. technology
MOOCs: the good, the bad and the future
Virtual mobility for international work placements
E-education and the disappearing human factor
Your guide to Strategic Enrolment Management
spring
2013
Discussing international education

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ISSN 1389-0808
Cover michaeljung (shutterstock)
Contents
04 Editorial
07 Hot off the press
Your guide to the latest publications
08 Technological timeline
Developments impacting higher education
over the years
10 Online and distance education
Europe is catching on
12 The mood for MOOCs
An insight into the growing phenomenon
16 The future of global higher education
Where is online learning heading?
19 Virtual mobility
A flexible approach
22 Return of the e-university
An interview with Paul Bacsich
26 who’s in (quality) control?
A greater focus required
28 Open educational resources
A Nordic perspective
32 The human factor
Is pure e-education the future?
36 Technology opens doors
A level playing field for students with disabilities
38 Strategic goal attainment
A new model for measurement
40 Strategic Enrolment Management
A framework for institutional change
42 Turkish higher education
Preparing for EAIE Istanbul 2013
46 Perspectives
A senior lecturer’s views on social media
47 Calendar
Upcoming events in the field

3. 12“MOOCsmakeuniversity
leadersnervous”
Anna Colombini
32“Unlesstheinnertechnologyofthehuman
brainchanges,puree-learningwillnot
servestudents”
Michael Bourke
22“Themodelofuniversityas
weknowitisnotingoodshape”
In conversation with Paul Bacsich
40“Institutions aremorereliantthaneveron
thenumberofstudentstheyenrol”
bob bontrager
03forum
spring 2013

4. Themoodfor
MOOCs
Photo: file404 (shutterstock)
12 forum
Spring 2013

5. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a hot spot for international
education at the moment, getting quite a lot of attention – in some cases
even nervous attention – from a variety of stakeholders. Where did they
come from and what exactly is all the fuss about?
L
et’s start with some definitions: a MOOC is
a free-of-charge class taught via the web to a
large number of learners – where large means
really large: hundreds or thousand of students – with
a minimum number of instructors. MOOCs are
currently being offered by companies in collaboration
with renowned universities and individual scholars.
In a short period of time, some of these courses
have attracted tens of thousands of learners around the
globe: some of the providers claim to have millions of
registered learners. Registration is quite easy: all you
need is an internet connection, a mobile device and
an e-mail address and you can browse a catalogue of
courses offered by the world’s top universities.
Where did it all start?
George Siemens, a Canadian professor and researcher,
led an open online course in 2008 for 25 paying stu-
dents at the University of Manitoba. The same course
was offered for free to an extra 2300. The course was
reported as a landmark in the small but growing push
towards open teaching. In 2011, Stanford University
opened up a course on Artificial Intelligence to
100 000 students from over 200 countries. Later on,
this type of course became known as a MOOC.
The main providers of MOOCs today include
Coursera, founded by professors from Stanford Uni-
versity, defined as ‘a social entrepreneurship company
that partners with the top universities in the world
to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free’.
Following in its footsteps is edX, ‘a not-for-profit
enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that
features learning designed specifically for interactive
study via the web’. Another key actor is Udacity, born
out of the Stanford University experiment with the
hundred-thousand classroom on Artificial Intelli-
gence, and Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organisa-
tion with the goal of ‘changing education for the better
by providing a free world-class education for anyone
anywhere’. And more are coming: just type ‘MOOC’
into Google, and one of the top results is ‘MOOC
List’, a site with a complete list of MOOCs offered by
the best universities and entities.
Technological tsunami
These developments are all loosely linked to the
technological tsunami we are living in, characterised
by the use of digital, personalised technology, and by
the attitude that goes with it – the habit of accessing
information anytime, anywhere. The higher education
students of today grew up with a technology mindset,
and they are 24/7 consumers. MOOCs are built on
these new technologies and related behaviours which
have emerged over the last few years. Some experts
predict that in the next few years hundreds of millions
of students in India, China, and Africa will access
low-cost education thanks to low‐cost mobile learning
technology. All this cannot but raise questions about
the future of teaching, the value of a degree, and the
effect technology will have on how higher education
institutions operate.
Differing viewpoints
International organisations dealing with higher
education are watching the phenomenon with atten-
tion: the European University Association (EUA)
reports on its website a recent discussion on MOOCs
and their potential impact.1
The results of a recent
The higher education students of today grew up with
a technology mindset, they are 24/7 consumers
Anna Colombini
Ca’ Foscari University, Italy
13forum
spring 2013

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7. questionnaire sent to EUA members
highlighted that while approximately
two-thirds of the respondents had heard
about MOOCs, only one-third could
confirm that MOOCs had already been
an issue of discussion in their institution.
The Council members expressed a general
consensus that “the MOOCs should be
closely monitored, but also that beyond the
present excitement, it would be important
to analyse innovative learning provision
trends, and also consider implications for
institutional recognition practice and defi-
nition of degrees”. The EUA announced
that a task force will be established to look
at these issues.
On a different note, UNESCO recently
concluded the ‘Mobile Learning Week’
(18–22 February 2013) and the comments
were that: “The outlook for mobile learn-
ing is promising. Mobile devices such as
tablets, mobile phones and e-readers are
being used by increasing numbers of peo-
ple”. Janis Karklins, UNESCO’s Assistant
Director-General for Communication and
Information told forum attendees, “We
cannot continue to pretend that we live
in the pre-digital era, and to do so risks
plunging schools into irrelevance. We live
in a world where many, if not most young
people carry a powerful, easy mobile
computer in their pockets. The question
is not whether schools and school systems
will engage with these mobile technologies
but when they will and how they will.”2
New competition
MOOCs make university leaders nervous:
they worry about having to compete with
free courses from some of the world’s most
exclusive universities. Institutions which
aren’t on board yet are afraid of missing
a momentous occasion, of being old-
fashioned, not in line with the digital era.
Some of them are rushing in: in the month
of February 2013, Coursera proudly an-
nounced that 29 new universities joined
in, almost doubling the number of schools
offering courses on their platform. For the
first time, courses across many topics will
be offered in languages like French, Span-
ish, Chinese and Italian.
Sceptics
Media are giving great attention to the
phenomenon, announcing a major revolu-
tion in teaching and learning systems. But
there are many sceptics, and for a number
of reasons. First of all, many issues related
to MOOCs still need to be dealt with, for
example, the possibility of awarding credits
for MOOCs. In addition, completion
rates are very low; assessment, grading and
cheating are all challenges that have yet to
be met.
In an article published by The Chronicle
of Higher Education, in February 2013,
author Nigel Thrift, Vice-chancellor of
the University of Warwick, UK, analysed
some reasons for the current ‘obsession’
with MOOCs, among which he listed
middle-class anger over tuition costs and
the search for ways of reducing higher-
education spending, and of teaching more
people more efficiently. He concluded with
the advice to calm down, predicting that
– as much academic research on informa-
tion technology has shown – MOOCs will
change some things and not others.
Nonetheless, Warwick Univer-
sity decided to join in “because we think
MOOCs can become another generally
benign way that universities can extend
their influence and general visibility while
realising some of the benefits of university
education for those who might not other-
wise receive it”.3
The jury is still out on MOOCs, but
whatever the verdict, MOOCs are pro-
vocative for higher education as they ask
for flexibility and alternative models of
delivering education. We still don’t now
how much they will change the educa-
tional landscape but we must all get ready
to face new challenges.
1. www.eua.be/news/13-02-25/Massive_Open_
Online_Courses_MOOCs_EUA_to_look_at_
development_of_MOOCs_and_trends_in_
innovative_learning.aspx.
2. www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-
view/news/mobile_learning_we_cannot_continue_
to_live_in_the_pre_digital_era.
3. To MOOC or not to MOOc. (13 February, 2013).
Retrieved from The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/to-mooc-or-
not-to-mooc/31721.
MOOCs make university leaders nervous
the completion rates are very low; assessment, grading
and cheating are all challenges that have yet to be met
15forum
spring 2013